


Wait For Them To Ask You Who You Know (Please Don't Make Any Sudden Moves)

by Lilsciencequeen



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama, F/M, Happy Ending
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-06-15 20:08:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15420624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilsciencequeen/pseuds/Lilsciencequeen
Summary: Trapped on an abandoned space station thousands of miles from Earth, Jemma Simmons has all but given up hope for a rescue when she gets a message from a mysterious stranger, Leo Fitz who proposes an idea; help him fix his shuttle and he'll help her get home.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A massive thank you to @stjarna for betaing this for me. You rock!

“Jemma.” The voice called her name, again and again and again. “Jemma.” It echoed around the empty hallway, the sound reverberating and bouncing off the metal walls. “Jemma.”  She spun around trying to find the source of the sound but she couldn’t. The hallway was dark and she seemed to be the only one in it. She seemed to be alone, no one else in the corridor with her. But there had to be someone there with her. There had to be. How else would someone be calling her name. “Jemma.”

“Hello?” she called out, taking a step down the corridor, trying to use her hearing to follow the sound. There was an uneasiness in her stomach, a twisting, gnawing sensation that made her want to throw up. There was something familiar about that voice but it sounded so different at the same time. The voice was raspy, as though they were in pain, hurting. Dead. “Hello? Who’s… who’s there?”

“You did this Jemma,” the voice said closer than it had been last time and she slowed her steps down, scared that she would walk into them. “ _You_ did this.” She swallowed hard upon hearing the words because she had pinpointed the voice, who was speaking.

Will.

She knew that that should make her happy, should make her feel less overwhelmed. That the presence of someone who she knew so well should take away the fear that had nestled and made itself at home in her stomach. But it only made her uneasy, turned her blood to ice in her veins. “You can’t…” she whispered, stopping dead in the tracks when she saw what he really looked like.

The lights had flicked on in front of her, a sharp buzzing sound making her wince and there he was, standing there in the flesh. He looked dead, he truly looked dead. His skin was sunken, dry, clinging to his bones. It was as though he were undead, an animated corpse.

His head was tilted to one side, his eyes dead. And it was that that made Jemma move and take an uneasy step back. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and Will as she could.

He reached out, taking a step forward. She tried to run at this point, spinning on her heel, she really did try to flee, to find safety but found that she couldn’t, that she was frozen to the spot. And it was only seconds later that his hand wrapped around her throat, a tight embrace that held her above the ground and no matter how hard she fought, how hard she struggled, she couldn’t get free.

His grip around her throat tightened and the last few burning breaths faded, the edges of her vision clouding before the darkness over took her completely.

***

A scream escaped her as she shot up in the bed, struggling against the blankets. She kicked and kicked before she was able to get free and pushed them off the bed, the things falling in a pile on the floor beside her.

Hugging herself, Jemma took a few shaking breaths in an attempt to calm herself, the things rattling as she took them. It had been weeks since she had seen Will. Nearly three months if she was being exact.  Three months since he had died. Three months since she had been left alone, trapped in an abandoned space station that everyone had stopped caring about.

But that didn’t stop her from sending out a distress signal, a beacon with a message pleading for help, for a way off this hell. It had been going for nearly six months now, ever since the Lighthouse fell. Since before everyone else had died.

At first, they had been hopeful that someone would come but as the weeks went on, the attacks grew more and more frequent and they lost more and more people, hope had started to fade, people had started to give up. They had resigned themselves to their new lives, in the upper layers of the Lighthouse, only venturing down to the lower levels if it was necessary.

Then it had been just her and Will and he had given up at this point, resigning himself to his fate. That he was stuck there and destined to die,thousands of miles away from Earth and his family. She had held onto that hope, had held onto the fact that someone, anyone, would come and rescue them, bring them back to Earth.

But as the weeks dragged on, she started to lose that hope too. It started to fade bit by bit and there was a point when she was ready to give up, to admit that there was no one coming for them. Ever. Ready to admit everyone was abandoning them, leaving them to their fate. But it had been Will who had helped her through that period, coming to sit by her bed that night and smiling at her, telling her that he’d be hope for a while, and that she could be doom.

That was a week before he died. A week before…

Sighing, and shaking the thoughts of the past from her mind because she knew that thinking about the past wouldn’t help her, Jemma climbed out of bed, and bent down, grabbing her blankets. She placed them back on the bed, making them as neat as she could (not that there was any point) before heading to the small en-suite that came off the cabin she now called her bedroom. There was a lot she had to do today, ranging from taking stock of the rations that she had left to working on her communication beacon, of extending the range of it in the hopes that it would reach someone, anyone else in the never-ending nothingness of space.

Deep down, she knew that no one would reply. That no one would ever come for her because, why would they? Everyone else was long dead, she was the only one left and it was too dangerous, far too dangerous. And it was the Lighthouse and no one came to the Lighthouse unless they had to.

But she had to attempt to leave here, she had to. She couldn’t just give up.

Not now.

***

The red light continued to flash, the siren continued to wail and his head continued to pound. He just wanted it to stop. Well, if he were being more honest, he just wanted it to work. He was only a couple of weeks away from home, somewhere that he just wanted to go but this had to happen. Of course it did. Of course his air filtration system gave up after months away, months of use. He had hoped that it would last, when it had started to falter a number of days ago, but it didn’t.

In fact, things had simply gotten worse.

“Come on!” he shouted, hitting at the control panel with his hand, as though that would do something, as though that would help him. “Work dammit!” But as he suspected, nothing worked, nothing changed. The lights still flashed and the sirens still blared and he knew that he had to do something and fast, because if he didn’t, he would die out here, so far away from home but so close at the same time.

He gave a groan of despair, taking a few steps back, running his hands over his face as he tried to compose himself, as he tried to think about what to do next. Because he had no idea what to do. He was alone out here, he was stuck alone out here and for once in his life, he had no idea would he could do. And that terrified him, shook him to his very core because if he didn’t

A blip, there on his radar, and not just any old blip. A blip that was giving out a distress signal, for a space station that was only two days away from him, if he was going by Earth time. A journey that he could make if he set a course now. But most importantly, it was a journey that he would need to make if he wanted to survive.

He pulled up the info, reading through the information that his system was providing for him. The Lighthouse, the system was telling him, was the name of a station, and it was giving out a distress signal, one that was begging someone, anyone to help them leave, to help them get home, to get back to Earth. That there had been an attack and there were few survivors left and they needed help. His mind pieced everything together as his eyes darted across the screens, absorbing all the data that they could. Not that there was much, most information regarding the Lighthouse seemed to be encrypted, blocked behind layers and layers of code. He could decrypt it if he put enough of processing power behind it, but he couldn’t. Not with the systems in emergency mode.  

But the name did sound familiar, it rung a few bells in his mind, but he couldn’t place it. No matter how hard he tried to think, he couldn’t place where he had heard the name before, what the purpose of it was. 

But the Lighthouse...

It could provide a way for him to get home. It could have the equipment that he needed to get home. If it was still broadcasting a plea for help, if there were people begging for help, then they still had a functioning air filtration system. And he could make them a deal; he could use their parts for his system in exchange for taking those that were trapped there back to Earth, back home.

So with an idea starting to form in his mind, he sent out a message and set a course for the Lighthouse.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A massive thank you to Stjarna for betaing this, couldn't do this without you!!

She didn’t expect there to be a message when she came out of the shower, her hair still damp, the occasional droplet of water dropping down onto the floor. It caused her to stop in her tracks, the flashing of the screen causing some confusion. It took her a moment to realise what was happening, and when she realised it was in fact a message, and that it wasn’t just the system telling her that the heating had once again failed, she felt her heart stop.

Taking a few small steps across the room, she slid into the chair in front of the monitor and opened the message.

An actual message.

There was someone out there reaching out to her, sending her something. She took a moment, her mind processing everything that was happening, her neurons firing, signals being send at a hundred thousand miles per hour. She turned her attention back to the screen, her eyes reading the words that were on the screen again and again.

_Message Request from Zephyr One. Accept?_

Her fingers hovered over the control screen for a second, unsure what to do, but then she clicked on accept and more text appeared on screen.

_Zephyr One: Hello. You sent out a distress signal. Are you still in need of assistance?_

Her breath caught in her throat.

_Lighthouse: You can offer assistance?_

_Zephyr One: I can. What is your issue?_

Her eyes skimmed over the text once, twice, three times before replying, because this message here, she was so scared, so worried that it wasn’t genuine. That it was a prank, someone pretending that they were coming to get her only to not come at the last minute. It wouldn't be the first time.

_Lighthouse: You can get us home?_

_Zephyr One: I can but what is your issue._

_Lighthouse: We’re all alone. We have been trapped here for months alone. Supplies are low and there’s no way out._

It was a lie what she sent, well part of it was, and she hated that it was. She knew that she shouldn’t lie, that it was wrong but it was also, hopefully, the best way to get home. A rescue would come for more than one person. It always valued more lives, and to most ships, one life wasn’t worth the risk. Especially if it was the Lighthouse.

_Accept Video Call from Zephyr One?_

She didn’t even hesitate this time, watching as the it connected to her potential rescuer and their call.  His face appeared on the screen, and he was so different from what she had expected him to look like. He looked about her age, soft brown curls and scruff, blue eyes that look like they would sparkle in the sunlight, not that came across in the dark, cramped spaceship that he seemed to be in.

“ _Hello?_ ” he asked. 

“Are you…” she breathed, unable to comprehend that there was a living breathing person there, talking to her. “I’m… I’m Jemma.”

“ _Fitz_ ,” he replied. “ _Are you… are you okay_?”

“Can you help us? Rescue us?”

“ _How many of you are there_?” Jemma hesitated unsure of how to answer this question because it was just her. “ _Is there many of you, I have a small ship.._.”

“It’s just…” she began, taking a breath to help compose herself before she continued to speak. “It’s just me.” She dropped her gaze away from him, unsure of how to reply. She had lied to him, had told him only a partial truth, and now… now she had to admit to that.

“ _Where’s everyone else_?” he asked, concern in his voice, not the anger that she had expected. When she didn’t reply, unable to reply. “ _Jemma, where is everyone else?_ ”

“They’re…” she took a breath, trying to compose herself because she knew that if she answered his question, then he wouldn’t ever come for her. That she would die here alone, forgotten by everyone else in the Universe. “They’re dead.” She looked him in the eyes, her brown eyes wide and full of pain.

“ _Jemma_ …” the one word that came from him, it had no anger or hatred to it. There was a curiosity to it.

“There was an attack, there was more of us but I’m the only one left. And no one…” She gave a bitter laugh, unsure how to continue.

“ _I’m still coming, Jemma, I’m still going to come for you_.”

The words surprised her, and she looked back up at him, frowning. She was so confused. She had no idea why he had said that, why he was still coming for her whilst no one else had even tried to contact her. “Why?” she began to ask, the rest of her words catching in her throat, leaving her unable to get them out. A single tear clung to her lashes.

“ _You’re stuck there alone, yeah?_ ” he asked, only pausing whilst she replied with a nod. “ _Well, I’m not going to leave you there. But before I get here, I need you to do some stuff for me, can you do that?_ ”

Once she had confirmed that yes, she was able to do what it was that needed to be, they both said that they would keep in contact with one another, and then, he hung up. Leaving Jemma alone again.

But she had work to do.

***

The two days passed by quickly, Jemma getting together the supplies that were needed to help Fitz fix the air filtration on his ship. Of course she couldn’t get all the parts that she needed; some parts where in the lower levels of the Lighthouse, a place where she would never go, and the only other parts where still be used, helping to keep her alive. She couldn’t take those parts, not yet, and she was unsure what she could take, and what she couldn’t take.

Fitz knew. The two of them had been communicating over the past two days, getting to know each other. He seemed nice, he really did. He was able to help give her instructions, tell her what needed to be done before he got there, how to do what needed to be done before he got there. The two of them were going to work on the rest when he got there. An agreement had been made between the two of them, that not only would Fitz use the air filtration system parts, but he would take some of the food and water that was left, giving them more (and a greater variety) of supplies for heading back to Earth (not that she had tried to think about it that much. Going home. Going back to Earth. It was almost too much for her to think about).

And he was on his way over right now. There was still a part of her that thought this was some cruel prank and no one was actually coming for her but she had to trust him. She had to.

It was late afternoon when she was just sorting through what food they were keeping for the Lighthouse, and what food they were bringing with them, the communication system rang, saying that Fitz was calling.

“Hello?” she asked, the code word that had now been set to answer what could be called as a phone. “Fitz?”

“ _Yeah, yeah I just wanted to let know I’m here. I’m about ten minutes out but I’m here_.”

The word, they took a moment to sink in. He was here. The first stage in getting home, back to Earth.

“I’ll meet you down there,” she told him, her tone more cheerful, more optimistic than it had in months, years even. She was going to go home. She was.

Abandoning her work, she made her way down to the docking area, moving faster than she should have, but she didn’t care. There was someone else here, the first person she had seen in months. The first person she had even been able to communicate with.

His ship soon pulled in, parking in one of the bays, the metal doors closing behind it, providing an added layer of protection between them and the never-ending nothingness that surrounded them.

“Fitz?” she asked, hugging herself, as he approached. He was climbing out of the ship, the thing parked up in the bay, his ship being the only one there, after everyone else who could have fled did. “Is that…”

He gave her a smile, walking over to her and extending his hand. She shook it, before hugging herself once again, the anxiety, the fluttering in her stomach slightly fading now that he was standing there, ready and willing to help her. “The Zephyr, yeah it is. Is everything…”

“I did what I could, but I need some help. I just… I couldn’t do it alone.”

“That’s what I’m here for isn’t it.” The conversation between the two of them was easy, as if they had known each other for years and not for a couple of days, less than the number of fingers she had on one hand. “To help you.”

“Fitz,” she said, as the two of them started walking towards the stairs that would take them back to the room Jemma now called home, her base of operation. He turned to look at her, his face softening with concern. “Thank you. For helping me get home.”

“It’s okay.” He paused, and she did the same a few steps later, staring at him, taking him in with her eyes, trying to figure out more about him now that he was here in person. “It’s… what else was I going to do? I couldn’t leave you here.”

A beat filled the room as Jemma was unsure of what to say, a silence filling the corridor. It wasn’t uncomfortable but one that wasn’t necessarily comfortable either.

After a moment, Fitz cleared his throat before speaking again, breaking what had settled in the air, rubbing anxiously at the back of his neck. “Let’s get to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to update this! Anyone who's read my past couple fics knows the past month and a half has been draining and I have had no energy to write. Thankfully my muse has come back, so this fic will be continued and finished. Thank you for your patience and your support, it means so much to me!

**Author's Note:**

> There should only be 6 chapters of this one so semi-regular updates should be expected! I really hope that you enjoyed this first look at this AU?


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